LAGOS: Nigeria, which is recovering from decades of military dictatorship, appears to be heading for another disaster, following ethnic conflict which has rocked Lagos since Saturday.

The conflict between Yoruba and Hausa people — Nigeria’s dominant ethnic groups — erupted in Lagos, the country’s largest city, at the weekend. And, by Monday, at least 55 people were reported dead.

The Yoruba hail from the south, where Lagos is situated, while the Hausa come from the north.

“I believe the violence which has been taking place since the beginning of the year aims at destabilising the country to pave way for military incursion again. This, I think, is being sponsored by some northern leaders bent on removing President (Olusegun) Obasanjo because he is not towing their line as they would have wanted him to,” says Gabriel Akindele, a political analyst in Lagos.

Obasanjo, a Yoruba, won the political support of the north in the 1999 presidential elections.

Since May 1999, when the new civilian administration came into office, more than 15 politicians have been assassinated. Several others were lucky to have escaped attempts on their lives. Political analysts have warned that violence and anarchy would mar the 2003 general elections, if the situation continues.

In 1966, political violence and mob killings led to the first military coup and a three-year civil war.

Up to one million people died in the fighting between secessionists, seeking an independent state, Biafra and the Nigerian government.

Since 1999, politicians who have been murdered include Odunayo Olagbaju of the Osun State House of Assembly, Olayiwola Lawrence of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Eze Okonkwo of the Anambra State and Monday Ndor of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

The most prominent among them was Bola Ige, Nigeria’s Minister of Justice, who was assassinated in his home in Ibadan, capital of the Western State of Oyo, on Dec 23 last year.

The frequency of the clashes and violence, said Obasanjo, has made many to wonder the extent of Nigerians’ appreciation of their hard-won democracy in 1999, after decades of military rule.

Some Nigerians have warned the army to forget about coming back to the seat of power. —Dawn/The InterPress News Service.